


it will come back.

by brodiebear



Series: the serpent & the wolf [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M, slow burn!!!, the best kind of ship!!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 11:08:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17364809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brodiebear/pseuds/brodiebear
Summary: After being impaled, dying and coming back to life - Jackson has become a completely different person and the pack are worried about him, especially Scott.He's determined to find out what the hell is going on and gets more than he expected.





	1. first day back

**Author's Note:**

> hi all! i don't really know what i'm doing here, lmao.  
> this is my second ever fic and i'm nervous as all hell, not to mention my memory of actual canon happenings in teen wolf is practically non-existent so don't be surprised if you don't see those happenings in this fic.  
> if you have any constructive criticism, ideas or anything - please don't hesitate to leave me a message and i'll get back to you asap!  
> (this could become a multi-fic thing, i'm not sure yet!)

Rumors were being thrown around the school like it was nobody's business. Which it was, mind you. It was nobody's business to know what had happened to Jackson or how he miraculously recovered after everything that happened on the Lacrosse field that night. The stories were getting more and more ridiculous as time went on.  
  
For the first few weeks of school starting back up, Jackson wasn't there. Nobody knew anything, nobody knew where he was or how he was doing - nobody knew if he was okay.  
  
Unsurprisingly, everyone turned to Lydia for information and she came up blank. Jackson wasn't answering his messages, wasn't answering the door - even his parents were coming up with excuses as to why he hadn't shown up for class for over three weeks.  
  
Four weeks and still no sign, no word of Jackson. Some people were starting to get worried, those some people being Scott and Allison. Even with everything they'd all been through together, they still cared about Jackson - still worried about him and his well being.  
  
Eventually, Jackson did come back to school. Resumed classes. Became just like every other student in the school. If he were anyone else, that might have been okay - it might have been normal. But this was Jackson, the guy that was loud and obnoxious and rude at any given chance. The guy that never paid attention to a single class in his life was doing just that. Paying attention to classes, studying - keeping his head down.  
  
Very unlike Jackson. So much so that Scott was worried, exceptionally worried. It was like Jackson had become a completely different person in the span of a month. Scott needed to find out what had happened, what had caused Jackson to change so drastically. He'd expected Jackson to go right back to normal, he'd expected Jackson to go back to being the popular kid, the King of the school and the co-captain of Lacrosse.  
  
When that hadn't happened, alarm bells began to ring in Scott's head. Apparently Allison had the same worries.  
  
"You should talk to him." Allison said quietly, looking up from her desk to Jackson who was sat right in front of her - shoulders hunched over, head down... clearly focusing on his work.  
  
"And say what?" Scott whispered, following Allison's gaze to Jackson's back. He was focusing, he was actually studying.  
  
"You could ask him how he is," she looked back down to her paperwork, "he's been gone for over a month, Scott. He could probably use a friend or two."  
  
Allison was right, of course. She was always right when it came to stuff like this. She was a friendly person, she was the kind of person that just radiated kindness, happiness - she was like a bright light in a dark room. Scott knew that she was right, that Jackson probably needed a friend after everything he'd gone through - from being mind controlled to being impaled, to coming back to life... not to mention anything else he might've gone through while they weren't looking.  
  
Thankfully for Scott, he had another class with Jackson before the day was up - which meant he had one last chance to talk to him because he knew that there was no way Jackson would talk to him during their lunch break. Hell, Scott wasn't even sure where Jackson went for his lunch break. He'd even tried looking for Jackson during their lunch break but he came up empty.  
  
The bell rang for the next class and Scott parted ways with the rest of the pack and promised to fill them in should he get any information from Jackson. Which he hoped that he would. As much as he might hate to admit it, Jackson was alone right now. He had no friends, he had nobody to talk to about what had happened to him - the supernatural things that had no doubt messed him up mentally.  
  
Students began to filter into the classroom, picking out their seats for the lesson. Thankfully (and unsurprisingly), nobody chose to sit next to Jackson. So Scott did. He made his way to the back of the class and pulled out the chair, cringing as the feet of the chair scraped along the floor. He sat down and looked to Jackson from the corner of his eye, to see how he responded. Nothing. Not even a twitch or a flinch.  
  
"Hey," Scott spoke quietly, "-Jackson? Are you okay?"  
  
The only reason he was asking was because Jackson looked a little dead. He looked pale and he was unresponsive for the most part, other than the fact that his eyes were following the teacher. His mouth was moving slightly, like he was copying what the teacher was saying so that it stuck with him a little longer.  
"Jackson!" Scott whisper-shouted, eyes narrowing and brows furrowing. His nose creased and scrunched up in distaste at the lack of an answer once again and he was just about ready to grab Jackson by the shoulders and shake him until he snapped out of whatever trance he was in.  
  
The teacher spoke up at that exact moment, to let everyone know that they were going to be doing an oral practise, to really get their pronunciations and diction correct for the upcoming oral test. Just that information alone had half the class groaning in distaste and the second half of the class started groaning unhappily when they were assigned to the people sat next to them.  
  
Everyone seemed unhappy, all but one person. Scott. It meant that he had the time and excuse to talk to Jackson under the guise of learning how to speak French properly when in fact, he was going to use the time to talk to Jackson and find out what the hell had happened, what the hell was going on.  
  
The chairs and tables were moved and rearranged so that everyone had more space to sit face to face, paper in hand, ready to reel off sayings to translate or be translated. Luckily for both Jackson and Scott, they had super hearing which meant they didn't need to speak all that loudly.  
  
"Jackson, at some point you need to tell me what's going on. What happened to you?" Scott looked down to his paperwork and then back up to Jackson, acting like he was reading from the paper. Radio silence. It was like trying to get blood from a stone.  
  
"At some point, you will have to talk to me." Scott didn't know that for sure. He didn't know that for certain. Jackson could very well ignore him until the end of time. If that was what he wanted to do then he could. He was an incredibly stubborn soul, wasn't he?  
  
Minutes passed and Scott was left there, staring at Jackson incredulously - worried that he might not ever speak again. Scott was almost entirely sure that he might stay like this. Zombie-like, walking dead-esque.  
  
"Are we doing to do this or not?" Jackson finally spoke up, giving the paper an aggressive wave in Scott's direction. All about the work, focused all too much on the work in front of him instead of talking to Scott about his feelings. That part checked out, that part was the most Jackson-thing he'd seen all day.  
  
"Jackson, I just want to talk to you-"  
  
"That's a not, then." With that, Jackson pushed the chair back and stood up. Even though his tone sounded angry, his face said otherwise. He still seemed nonchalant as ever, deadpan in the face with eyes that seemed to have lost any kind of sparkle they might have once held.  
  
Somehow he managed to excuse himself from the room with his backpack in tow, paperwork in hand. Scott watched with sheer surprise as he walked out of the room. So he waited for a few minutes, then came up with the excuse that he didn't feel too well and he grabbed his backpack and his paperwork and quickly exited the classroom.  
  
Jackson was already making quick work of disappearing down the hallway towards the library and Scott followed in tow, trying to be as quiet as possible (although if Jackson could hear his heart beat then there was a good chance that he already knew he was being followed). If he did know that he was being followed, he was doing a damn good job of acting like he didn't know it.  
  
Scott grabbed his library pass from his pocket and entered the quieter part of the building with a low exhale. He looked around, finding no sign of Jackson. He listened to the room, listened to the very few heartbeats in there. He closed in on Jackson's and followed the sound, thumping hard in his ears like it was his very own heart beating.  
  
He finally found Jackson, sat at one of the furthest seats, hidden away behind one of the stacks of books.  
  
"Jackson," Scott said quietly, "what's going on with you?"  
  
Nothing. He couldn't say that he was surprised. He'd been getting the silent treatment since he started trying. Since he started talking to Jackson. Having a one-sided conversation was getting a little tiresome and Scott was beginning to get annoyed.  
  
"Alright, look." Scott sat down at the table and looked at Jackson, who had his head down. He was writing, furiously, scribbling along the pages of his homework book. Scott put his hand forward and settled it over Jackson's, pressing his hand down against the table to stop him from writing anymore. That seemed to work because Jackson looked up, eyes hollow and cheeks pale. He looked sickly. "I'm not playing this game with you anymore, Jackson. You can't keep ignoring us. You can't keep ignoring the people that care about you."  
  
Jackson made a noise at that, almost like a scoff. "You don't care about me." It was just a few words but it was enough to make Scott's heart twist uncomfortably and he breathed out, hand slowly releasing Jackson's so that he could pull it away from Jackson's.  
  
"We do care about you. Of course we do!" Scott whisper-shouted at Jackson, looking stern and firm. "Of course we care about you, dummy. All we've done for the last month is worry about you. Care about you. We didn't even know if you were going to come back to school. We thought you'd just disappeared."  
  
Jackson still looked emotionless, expression completely deadpan. Scott could tell that Jackson was listening, even if his expression didn't show it. His heart beat did and his chemo signals were giving Scott more than enough to know that he was listening. So he kept going.  
  
"Jackson, we've been so worried about you. We've been so worried about you. Even Stiles has been worried about you." Which was saying something, wasn't it? Stiles liked to pretend that he didn't care about Jackson but Scott had seen that little tear in his eye, the tear he claimed was for his jeep. He knew that it was for Jackson.  
  
Jackson had stopped writing at some point, even put the pencil down on the table. He was sitting a little more upright, giving Scott his full attention. He was properly listening now. He was actually listening to what Scott was saying. Was it actually going into his brain or was it going straight over his head? Did he understand that the pack was worried about him? Did he understand that?  
  
"Jackson... you don't have to go through this alone. Any of this."  
  
Because Jackson had gone through enough of this on his own. Jackson had gone through hell and back on his own. Jackson had gone through the change, he'd turned into some kind of hybrid creature and now ... now he was stuck with that choice for the rest of his life. Because he'd been so obsessed with wanting to fit in, because he wanted to be like Scott? Or because he wanted to be like Derek? Because he wanted to be powerful? Whatever the reason was, he was now stuck with that for the rest of his life.  
  
All Scott wanted to do was help him out, help him through it - to let him know that he wasn't alone. That he wouldn't ever be alone, as long as he accepted the help that Scott was offering to him. There was a 50/50 chance that Jackson might accept or reject the help, depending on how his pride and ego were feeling on that day. It was all about taking a chance and this was one Scott wanted to take, if it meant he could help Jackson through this.  
  
"I want to help you, Jackson. I don't want you to be alone through this. You have people who want to help you. People that are willing to look past everything you've done. People that have forgiven you, that want to look after you and make sure that you're okay through this." Scott said, reaching across the table so that he could give Jackson's hand a gentle and reassuring squeeze.  
  
What he didn't expect was for Jackson to squeeze his hand back. Just as gentle, just as compassionate as Scott had. He really had changed. His entire lifestyle seemed to have changed in just a month. "We want to help you, Jackson." He repeated, giving his hand yet another squeeze - a little more firmly this time, thumb rubbing over the back of his hand.  
  
Eventually, Jackson looked straight at Scott and nodded. That was as good as it was going to get. That was confirmation, that he was going to accept the help. This was good. This was progress. This meant that he'd be able to take care of Jackson, that he'd be able to make sure that he didn't go through anything else alone. Whether Jackson liked it or not, he was part of Scott's pack and Scott took care of his pack no matter what.  
  
"What do you say we get out of here? I don't know about you but I'm starving and I could really go for a cheeseburger." If there was one thing Scott knew about Jackson, it was that he shouldn't push too hard. This was more than what he was expecting, for Jackson to actually take the help. Before everything, Jackson would have told him to shove it somewhere unpleasant but now? Now he was accepting the help without so much as a whine. That was progress.  
  
Even more progress was that Jackson actually smiled at the idea of getting a cheeseburger. Jackson nodded, looking up to Scott. He pulled his hand back slowly, ignoring the warmth that it brought to his entire body. "Uh - yeah, okay. Burgers sound... good."  
  
Scott smiled, brightly and pushed to stand up. His hands moved to grab at his backpack straps, looking like a very eager puppy as he watched Jackson pack his things up and put them in his bag. Scott stepped to the side and waited for Jackson to join his side.  
  
As they walked, Scott took his phone from his pocket and sent out a pack-wide text to let them know that he was okay, that he was with Jackson and he was getting somewhere with all of this. He'd text them later on, to let them know what he knew.  
  
Today was shaping up to be a pretty good day. 


	2. a new friendship

School hadn't technically finished for the day, they were still an hour away from the final bell ringing which meant they had to be quiet and sneaky. They had to be very inconspicuous about walking through the hallways to make sure that they got out of the school without being seen. Scott ducked his head quickly as he walked past the window of a door that led into a very busy classroom. Good job at not being obvious, Scott.  
  
Jackson laughed quietly to himself, head shaking a little bit as he walked through the corridors towards the front entrance. Home run. They were out and walking towards Scott's bike and really, he was expecting some kind of comment about how the bike looked like an old piece of crap. But nothing came. No sassy remark or retort. "I can drop you back here later if you want? To pick up your car?" He looked to Jackson, then looked around the parking lot. He couldn't see Jackson's car. He couldn't see that familiar silver porsche.   
  
"I didn't bring it. I ran." Jackson said calmly with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders, like it wasn't some kind of a big deal, which it wasn't - not to him. He had a lot of excess energy now, a lot of energy to burn off. The look on Scott's face was absolutely priceless, though, the look of sheer shock on his face at Jackson running to school rather than taking his precious porsche.   
  
"Are you eating more?" Scott asked then, donning that concerned look once more. "Because you need to eat more if you're doing more. We have to eat more than what other people do." Scott was careful to not to use the word 'were' or 'humans'. He didn't want to make Jackson feel any more like an outsider that he might already feel.   
  
Jackson didn't answer that question and that left Scott feeling a little more concerned that what he thought was possible. He didn't think it was physically possible to feel as worried and concerned as he felt in that moment but apparently he'd exceeded his own expectations there. Always the carer, was Scott. He just couldn't help himself, especially when Jackson looked like death.  
  
"You need to be eating a lot more, Jackson. Your body needs more nutrition and more calories because you burn through more." Scott said, frowning as he walked towards the bike. He held out the helmet for Jackson to take and pulled his spare one out to put on himself. Jackson hesitated before he took the helmet, then slid it on and clipped it up underneath his chin.   
  
Scott started the bike up and waited for Jackson to climb on and when he did, Scott took hold of his wrists and pulled his arms around his waist. "Hold on tight, okay? It might not look fast but it is." Scott didn't want him to fall off. Not because he could hurt himself but because he didn't want that happening to Jackson at all.   
  
Jackson's arms tightened around Scott's waist and he held on, hands pressed against his stomach. He was actually listening to Scott's advice and not making any smart remarks. What had happened to him? God, he was ... so different now. It was unnerving, it was worrying. Scott really needed to know what happened in that month of absence.   
  
The ride to the diner was quiet, which was to be expected. There wasn't much room for talking when your voice got lost in the helmet or in the wind if it managed to get past the helmet. Even with super hearing.   
  
Scott parked up in one of the parking spaces, the smaller ones reserved specifically for bikes, and shut the bike off. He took off his helmet and climbed off, then placed his helmet on the bike. He watched as Jackson did the same. Like a robot, following orders. Scott frowned but tried to hide it and instead moved towards the diner. He opened the door to let Jackson go through first and followed in behind him. Scott waved to one of the waitresses as she passed by and moved towards a booth and sat down.  
  
"Do you know her?" Jackson asked as he took a seat at the booth and looked towards Scott curiously.  
  
"Yeah - we ... we go to school with her daughter." Scott said, looking a little confused that Jackson didn't recognise her.  
  
"Oh, right." Jackson shrugged it off and leaned forward to take the menu from the table. He flicked through the pages and stopped at a certain one. "I'm gonna have a chicken salad."  
  
Scott scoffed, incredulously. "You don't eat salads. I've never seen you eat a salad once." He didn't mean to criticise but he'd told Jackson not half an hour ago that he needed to be eating more food.  
  
Jackson rolled his eyes and scoffed back. "Shut up, McCall. I'm gonna get fries with it."   
  
That still wasn't any better but Scott wasn't going to pick on him any more. If he said or did the wrong thing, he could push this progress all the way back to square one and he didn't want that. He was starting to see the shine and sparkle of the old Jackson, the Jackson that he wanted back. Surprisingly. He wanted the jerk back compared to the quiet, closed off Jackson.   
  
"Alright." He nodded and waved down the waitress to order their food. Scott had already decided on burger and fries. He ordered two sodas and one large milkshake to go with it. Jackson looked confused at the extra drink, at the order of a milkshake.   
  
"We're gonna dip our fries in it." Scott said, hoping to wipe the confusion from Jackson's face. It didn't. He only look more confused and perhaps a little disgusted.  
  
"What? You've never dipped your fries in a milkshake before? Jackson, c'mon- it's ... an experience."  
  
Jackson shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "I've never tried it before. I don't... come to diners, Scott. I either eat at home or I eat take out. Or I'm dragged to family functions and we eat lobster. Fancy shit."   
  
Ah, well, that made more sense. Jackson had been raised in a fairly wealthy family, the kind of family that went to functions and ate lobster and dressed up in fancy suits with fancy cars and expensive watches. Well, Scott was going to teach him the other side of that life - the life where you're barely scraping by to survive, the kind where you have to get imaginative with your food.   
  
"Well, today is the day that I change your life and introduce you to milkshake dipped fries." Scott smiled brightly. He meant it in more ways than one, that he was going to change Jackson's life. He was going to try, at least. He was going to try and change his life for the better.   
  
Now was the best time to try and find out what was going on with Jackson. He had no means of escape. Not really. He didn't have a car and unless he wanted to run on an empty stomach, then he wasn't going to be going anywhere without Scott.   
  
"So," Scott said quietly, "... do you want to talk about what's going on? Do you want to talk about what happened while you were... away?" It was the nicest way to put it, wasn't it? It was the nicest way to ask what the hell he'd been up to during his month of absence. Had he been trying to get his powers under control?   
  
"Nothing happened." Jackson said with a shrug, glancing down to the table, hand lifting to rest against the table. Fingers lifted slightly to tap nervously against the table in a continuous pattern. It was the kind of thing that Stiles would do when he was restless, when he was nervous - when he was hiding something. So Scott had to believe that he was hiding something too.   
  
Scott reached across the table and took hold of Jackson's hand and pressed it down against the table. His tone was much firmer, sterner and for a split second, his eyes flashed from human to werewolf. "Jackson. Talk to me." He didn't want to use brute force and he didn't want to coerce Jackson into telling him but he needed to know what was going on.   
  
"Scott - I'm telling you, nothing. Just drop it." Jackson was being stubborn, determined not to spill any details. Of course he wasn't going to say anything. That was definitely the old Jackson poking through the shell of the walking dead-esque personality he had going on right now.   
  
Jackson's hand had stopped moving underneath Scott's but Scott didn't move his hand. He left it there for a minute, trying to comfort Jackson - trying to give him some kind of reassurance. Instead what he got was pain, surging through his system - turning his veins black. He pulled back with a light wince and shook his hand.   
  
"Jackson - you're in pain." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. He was in pain because Scott felt it. Scott had felt it run through his hand and up to his shoulder. It was a lot of pain, too. Where was that pain coming from? Scott's eyes narrowed and he frowned. "You're in pain. Why?"   
  
He shrugged it off, like it wasn't a big deal even though it was. It was a big deal because he'd been in pain for months. Since before everything happened. Since before everything went down.   
  
"Jackson, you have to talk to me if you want me to help you." Scott said sternly, firm, unwavering. He wasn't going to back down from this, especially now that he knew Jackson was in pain.   
  
What Scott didn't expect was for Jackson to look up at him with glassy eyes, tears pricking the corners of his eyes. His face had gained a little bit of color but for all of the wrong reasons.   
  
"Nobody else is going to understand what you're going through, Jackson. Only us." Because he was a supernatural creature now, he was a were-creature. The only people that would really understand was him and Isaac and Scott didn't think putting those two together in a room was the brightest idea.   
  
"It hurts," Jackson said quietly - uncharacteristically quiet, "when I - when it happens, it hurts. It hurts everywhere." His voice was shaking now, lower lip trembling. "I can't sleep. I don't - I don't sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see everything that happened. Everything that I did. Everything that I was made to do. I hear them, screaming in pain. I hear and see all of it." Now that he'd started to talk, he couldn't find it in himself to stop. "Did you know that I saw everything? That I heard everything? Do you know what that feels like? To be a prisoner in your own mind? To watch your hands wrap around someone's throat and squeeze until the light leaves their eyes? Do you know what it feels like to watch yourself wash the blood off of your body? It's - it's hell, Scott."   
  
"Hey." Scott reached back out to take Jackson's hand and squeeze it again. He was in trouble here. Jackson was in deep trouble. He was suffering because of everything that had happened and he'd been going through it alone. God. "You've got me. You've got the pack. You can talk to any of us at any time. If you're struggling, you come and talk to me. You come and tell me that you're struggling and I will do everything - everything - that I can to make you feel less like this."   
  
Jackson sniffled quietly, turning his hand so that he could lace his fingers with Scott's. He squeezed, tightly, like his life might depend on it. "I just want it to stop, Scott. I want to be able to sleep without waking up in the middle of the night in cold sweats and screaming." It wasn't like he could go to a therapist about this because no therapist in the world could understand what Jackson was going through. The pain that he went through every time the full moon hit. Every time he tried to stop himself from shifting because his tail hurt too much when he did.  
  
Then Jackson said something that sent a chill down Scott's spine, that made his eyes practically bulge out of his head and his heart nearly stopped dead in his chest.  
  
"My parents know." When the full moon rolled around, Jackson hadn't realised that he was going to go through so much - that he was going to feel so much pain. His parents had come running in and found him mid-shift. It'd made his mom scream and his dad had fainted. Ever the dramatic family, were the Whittemores. The one thing that Jackson hadn't expected was his parents being ... somewhat fine with it. It'd taken them a few days to come around to the idea that their son was a ... freak, but they'd come around to it. "They're not going to tell anyone." Because he'd asked, profusely, for days.  
  
Scott nodded and breathed out, hand squeezing Jackson's. He had to pull back slightly when the food arrived and he smiled at the woman as she set their plates down, along with their cutlery and the three drinks. He heard Jackson's stomach growl from across the table and he smiled. "I think you might be hungry, Jacks."  
  
"Congrats, Captain Obvious." Jackson snorted and finally (albeit begrudgingly) let go of Scott's hand so that he could unwrap his knife and fork. While he did so, he saw Scott move the milkshake to the middle of the table. "You're not going to let me eat until I do that stupid milkshake thing, right?"   
  
"Mhm. It's life changing, I'm telling you. You need to do it and I promise you, you will not be disappointed." Okay, so, he might be bigging this up a little bit too much. It was just dipping a fry in a milkshake but he believed that it was nice. It was a nice bonding experience, too.  
  
Scott picked up a fry and dipped it in the milkshake, then offered it up to Jackson who opened his mouth somewhat unwillingly and took a bite of the now soggy fry. He chewed and swallowed, confusion coating his features. "What- the fuck? That's ... actually kind of good."   
  
That response made Scott laugh and he nodded. "Right? It's incredible. I told you. Life changer." Scott dipped the next fry into his milkshake and took a bite out of it with a happy smile. "It's the little things in life." Because Scott had come to appreciate those more than anything else. The little things that made him smile, that made life a little more tolerable.   
  
Jackson shook his head slightly though the smile never seemed to falter. It was the first time that he'd smiled in a while and it felt good to smile, it felt good to be with someone that didn't look at him like he was some kind of fucked up mistake. Even though his walls weren't completely down, they were down far enough that Scott was getting a look in at the original Jackson - the Jackson that wasn't cruel, that didn't make fun of people.  
  
Scott's stomach started to growl and he flushed a little out of embarrassment. He rubbed the back of his neck and unwrapped his own cutlery, then set it down on the table. He lifted the burger to his mouth and opened as wide as he could, jaw practically unhinging to fit it into his mouth. He bit down and chewed happily, smiling dopily at Jackson. He swallowed and licked his lips. "You wanna try some? It's really good."  
  
"I think I'll pass on that, McCall." Jackson shook his head, though his tone was fond. For once in his damn life, he was actually getting along with someone. Someone wanted to be there for him, even after everything he'd done. It almost sounded too good to be true and maybe he wouldn't have believed it, if it were anyone but Scott. This was signature Scott. Kindness and purity.   
  
"Suit yourself, this is a pretty damn good burger." Scott proved that by taking another large bite, once again essentially unhinging his jaw to take the bite. He chewed slowly and then swallowed, watching as Jackson picked at his own food. He wasn't going to say anything. He wanted to but he didn't. He didn't want to pick a fight that he might lose, he didn't want to reset their progress.   
  
Scott finished his own food in record timing and eventually, Jackson finished his too. Their plates were completely clean which was more than he expected. "That was really good." Scott said with a smile, to which Jackson nodded in agreement.  
When it came down to paying for it, Scott was reaching for his wallet but he was stopped by Jackson's hand. Scott looked up and Jackson was smiling, shaking his head.  
  
"I'll pay for it." Jackson said, reaching for his own wallet to grab the cash.  
  
"But I offered to bring you here." Scott interjected, grabbing his own wallet anyway.  
  
"Scott- I said I'll pay for it." Jackson's voice was stern and firm this time, like Scott had done to him previously.  
  
Scott shrank back a little bit and finally nodded in agreement. "I'll pay for the next one." Because he'd just assumed that there would be a next one. That Jackson would want to do this again. Hang out with him. "If you want to hang out again, I mean-"  
  
"Calm down, McCall," Jackson teased with a smile, "I'm starting to think you might be getting attached to me."   
  
Scott choked on his sip of soda, the fizz coming out through his nose and he coughed a few times. "Of course I'm attached, you moron. I'm your friend. This is what friends do. They hang out, they pay for each others food."   
  
Jackson placed the cash on the table and smiled. "If you say so, dude."   
  
That was more like it. This was the old Jackson seeping through slowly. Was it because he was with someone that knew what he was going through? Was it because he was with someone that was his own age? Had Jackson spent the entire month on his own, in his room with nobody to talk to? Had he sat there, thinking that he was hopeless and alone when Scott was around the corner? He hated that.  
  
Scott cleared his throat as he stood up and grabbed his backpack. He threw it over his shoulder and slipped his other arm through the hole and readjusted the straps on his chest. "Do you want me to drive you home? So you don't upset your stomach?" That was a pretty crappy excuse, even for Scott. The reality was that Scott wanted to make sure that Jackson got home okay, that he got home safely.  
  
Jackson grabbed his backpack and threw it over one shoulder, moving to stand by Scott. He paused, hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, okay. Thanks." That was something he rarely ever said, wasn't it? When had he ever thanked Scott for anything ever? Apparently he really was becoming a changed man.   
  
Scott nodded with a smile and made his way towards the door and opened it for Jackson, letting him go out first and he gave a light wave to the waitress before he stepped out into the slightly warmer air. It was cooler inside than it was outside. He moved towards the bike and gave Jackson his helmet, then pulled his own one on and clipped it underneath his chin. He slid onto the bike and waited for Jackson to climb on behind him.  
  
Arms circled around his waist and pressed flat against his stomach again and Scott looked over his shoulder to make sure that Jackson had put his helmet on then started the bike up. The drive was quiet once again as Scott took them towards Jackson's house, the streetlights were beginning to turn on. It was getting late. How long had they spent in the diner?   
  
Scott pulled up outside of Jackson's house and pushed the visor up on his helmet and smiled to Jackson. "Well, here we are." He paused for a minute and cleared his throat. "Do you want company tomorrow? If you go for a run?"   
  
Jackson climbed off of the bike and took off his helmet, then looked to Scott. "Uh - sure, if you want to? Don't you usually ride your bike to school? I thought you would've been going with your better half." He definitely wasn't talking about Allison.  
  
"You mean Stiles? He goes with Allison and Isaac." Scott said with a little shrug of his shoulders, offering a little smile in Jackson's direction. "I can come with you. If you want me to."   
  
Jackson hummed quietly in thought and nodded his head. "Yeah, okay. I'll meet you outside your place. Seven thirty." He said, lips twitching into a small smile - threatening to turn into a bigger one.  
  
"Cool. Seven thirty. Keep the helmet." Scott said with a grin, dropping the visor down over his face. He waited until Jackson had walked up the steps and stepped into the house before he left. Then he made his way back home. His mom wasn't home, which he'd been expecting because she was working another double shift to earn enough money to keep them afloat. He shrugged off his jacket and made his way up the stairs and dropped down onto the bed. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and sent out a text to Stiles, to let him know that he was going to be walking with Jackson tomorrow.  
  
Today had turned out much better than expected.


	3. let me help you

Scott overslept.   
  
How in the world had he managed to oversleep? He hadn't even stayed up that late last night! Sure, he'd gotten into a few rounds of Mario Kart with Stiles but that shouldn't have been the reason why he overslept. He went to bed at a reasonable time and he had a restful sleep. He didn't wake up once, he wasn't restless. So how in the world had he overslept?  
  
Scott had precisely twenty minutes to shower, to grab some breakfast and get everything he needed for the school day. To call it a mad dash would be something of an understatement. He managed to knock over a lamp in his mad rush to get ready to meet Jackson outside but thankfully it didn't smash. That would have made this morning that much worse.   
  
Around nineteen minutes later, Scott was ready and waiting outside the front door of his house after giving a very quick and simplified explanation to his mom as to why he needed to be outside at precisely seven thirty. She'd looked a little confused but that was probably down to the fact that Scott had said everything in a very quick manner and had definitely missed out some of the important parts of his conversation with Jackson just because he didn't have the time to sit down and talk to her about it in full. That was a conversation better left for another day when he wasn't rushing to get ready.  
  
He started bouncing on his feet while he waited for Jackson, though in reality he probably should have stretched because that was what runners did - right? They stretched their muscles before they ran? Scott could get away with it thanks to his incredibly fast super healing but if he wanted to look the part, then he needed to act the part too.  
  
It wasn't long until Jackson came into view, jogging down the pavement towards Scott. He didn't stop, only slowed down until he was jogging on the spot. He had a thin layer of sweat on his face, a few droplets had slid down the side and his hair was all but stuck to his forehead. He was also wearing his gym clothes, which was a really smart idea and Scott was already cussing himself for not thinking of that.  
  
Ah, well. He could remember that for the next time they ran. Which could be tomorrow or it could be next week. He just didn't know. Jackson could be very unpredictable and in this state, even more so. The last thing he wanted to do was scare Jackson off right when they were on the precipice of being actual friends. Friends that talked about stuff, friends that hung out and ran to school together. Progress.   
  
"You look a little flustered, McCall." Jackson pointed out, nodding at Scott's very unruly hair. It hadn't been brushed, by the looks of it.  
  
Scott quickly patted his hands against his head and smoothed the unruly spikes down, though they flicked right back up and Scott grumbled quietly, resigning himself to the fact that his hair was going to look like a mess for the rest of the day.   
  
"You should use hair gel, or hairspray. Keeps it in place." Jackson said, smiling a little too cheekily at Scott, head tilted to the side.   
  
"Uhhuh. I'll remember that for the next time I need to control my hair." Scott laughed. "Are we going?" He looked down the path and then looked back to Jackson, still bouncing on his feet.  
  
"Yeah, c'mon. Better keep up with me. I'm not slowing down for you." Jackson started up his jogging again, already going down the path that would eventually lead them to the school.  
  
Scott began to follow, picking up the pace so that he could run beside Jackson. "If I couldn't keep up with you, I wouldn't deserve to be co-captain of the Lacrosse team." He pointed out with a light huff, though he was smiling because he didn't take offence to the off-handed comment. He was pretty sure that Jackson was just teasing him.   
  
"Mm. You could have had some kind of adrenaline spike to make you really good for a little bit." Jackson chuckled. "We both know that isn't true, though. You've got skill and talent." He said with a smile, because for once in his life he was being honest about something. Scott was talented, he did have skill. Even without the addition of werewolf strength, speed and reflex ... he was still good at what he did.  
  
"I don't even think an adrenaline spike can last that long, though. I'm sure Stiles would know the answer to that." Because Stiles was definitely the smartest of the two, he was smarter than Scott by miles and miles. Scott was okay with that, though. He knew that he was good at other things.   
  
Jackson didn't respond to that comment, mostly because he hadn't made things right with Stiles. He hadn't talked to anyone else except from Scott since he returned to school. He hadn't talked to anyone else since the incident, in fact. He hadn't had proper human contact with anyone since then. The most comforting action he'd gotten in the last month was Scott holding his hand yesterday.  
  
"So, are you going to run every morning?" Scott asked, smiling at Jackson as they jogged. He was surprised that Jackson was keeping it to such a slow pace, he was expecting Jackson to turn it into some kind of challenge or something - that was what the old Jackson would have done but apparently not.   
  
"I think so, yeah." Jackson said with a nod. "It helps me. I have ... too much energy rolling around in my body now. I don't - really do enough to get rid of it." It felt like there was something in his chest at all times, clawing at him - trying to get out of him and he hated the feeling but running usually suppressed it for a while. It usually helped to get the energy out of him for a short period of time. He'd learned that during his month alone. Running had helped. Exercise helped.  
  
"That gets better, eventually, you know? You learn how to control that side of you. If you're lucky, you can be friends with that part of you. You can be stronger, work better - if you accept that side of you instead of reject it and ignore it." Because Scott had tried that, he'd tried to ignore what he was, tried to ignore the feeling and it hadn't gone away - it only got worse.   
  
The rest of the run was relatively quiet, besides the small talk about how the weather was so nice and warm, which was kind of ridiculous considering what they'd talked about yesterday but Scott wasn't going to push. Once they reached the school gates, Jackson slowed down to a walk and Scott followed suit.   
  
"Do you want to sit with us at lunch?" Scott asked, lightly bumping his elbow against Jackson's. It only seemed fair to invite him to lunch, to sit with the pack - because he was part of the pack now. Whether he liked it or not. Scott wanted to make sure that he felt involved, that he didn't feel like an outsider or that he didn't belong.  
  
"Uh," Jackson hesitated, "I don't know if that's such a good idea, Scott. Stiles hates me, Lydia probably hasn't forgiven me for treating her like shit and Isaac - he probably wants to punch me square in the face." The only person he was somewhat sure actually liked him was Allison. She was the only one that actually gave back what she got. She matched him in so many ways and that was part of the reason they got along so well. "I don't know, man. I don't think it's a good idea. I think - I should just lay low for a while."   
  
Scott's lips twitched into a frown, mostly because he realised that Jackson was right. It didn't sound like that great of an idea because he still had to fix the bridges he'd burned with half of the pack. Maybe Jackson was right about this. "Okay, well, if you want to sit with us - I'm sure it'd be fine. But if you want to lay low, that's okay too." Scott would have to try and talk to everyone, use his charm to hopefully have them accept him at the table at some point.  
  
Jackson nodded, a solemn look on his face. "Yeah, that's what I thought too." He shrugged, expression dropping to a nonchalant one. "I'll see you ... later?"  
  
"Yeah, I'll see you after school? We can run home together, if you want." Scott smiled brightly, readjusting the straps of his backpack.  
  
"Yeah, sure, that sounds good." Jackson made his way into the school, leaving Scott to walk a little slower.  
  
Scott heard Stiles come up behind him, followed by Allison, Lydia and Isaac. He turned his head with a smile as he felt that familiar hand clasp his shoulder and give him a light shake. "Hey, Stiles."   
  
Stiles, as always, had a little too much energy in his system - practically bouncing towards the school doors. "How did it go with assface?"  
  
Scott frowned and shook his head. "Stiles, what have I told you about calling him that? He's ... going through a really rough time. He's struggling right now. He needs us to be there for him." Scott glanced around to the pack and noted the different facial expressions. Lydia looked worried, Isaac seemed -- indifferent to the whole thing and Allison looked concerned. Stiles, on the other hand, was making some kind of face.   
  
"Stiles! I mean it. He needs us right now. He's --- going through hell." It was the best way to put it because that was how Jackson had described it to him. He was going through hell and he needed support, he needed friends. He needed people that were going to be there for him.   
  
Stiles threw his hands up in defence and huffed. "Fine, fine! Alright. God. Who got your panties all in a twist? You do remember everything he did, right? Before all the mind games?" Stiles felt the need to point out that even before Matt and Gerard, Jackson was still an asshole.  
  
"He's changed. He's different now. Give him a chance and you'll see for yourself that he's changed." Scott persisted, moving up towards his locker. He looked up across the way and saw Jackson there. He smiled and Jackson smiled back. It dropped quickly after as some of the Lacrosse team went through, blocking Scott's view. "I'm telling you guys, he's gotten better."   
  
The bell rang not long after their conversation ended and Scott hurried along with the rest of the students to get to his first class of the day. The day seemed to go a little faster than yesterday. Maybe because he was looking forward to seeing Jackson at the end of the day, because he probably wouldn't see him at lunch.   
  
Scott was right about not seeing Jackson at lunch. Not at the table, not even in the cafeteria. Was he eating or was he starving himself because he didn't want to be in the cafeteria with everyone else? Scott would have to ask him later when the school day was over but for now, he needed to focus on himself - he needed to focus on eating his own food and getting ready for the next class.   
  
The rest of the day went by fairly quickly and before Scott knew it, he was waiting for Jackson by the school gates. Practically bouncing on his toes in excitement to see him again, to check in with him - to make sure he was okay. His smile grew that much brighter when he saw Jackson and he pulled at the strap of his backpack, swaying himself slightly on the spot.   
  
"Hey, good day?" Scott asked quickly, eagerly. He wanted to hear about his day because he'd barely seen Jackson. He didn't know how his day had been and he wanted to. They were really reaching friend status, which was good in his books.  
  
"So-so." Jackson responded with a light shrug of his shoulders. "Do you wanna walk? Instead of jog?" He asked, looking to Scott as they began to walk back from school.   
  
"Yeah, sure. Walking's good too. Exercise is exercise." Scott said with a little smile, letting his elbow nudge against Jackson's as his arm fell down by his side. His fingers very lightly brushed against Jackson's and he felt his cheeks flush, electricity running up his arm.   
  
The walk was pretty quiet, which Scott had expected it to be. Jackson hadn't ever been much of a talker and he didn't expect it to start now. But he did have some questions that he wanted to be answered, so he decided that now was as good a time as any.  
  
"So, where... where were you for lunch? I didn't see you in the cafeteria and you weren't outside." Scott tried to be as nonchalant as possible, tried his hardest to hide the fact that he was worried - which seemed ridiculous given that Jackson already knew that he was worried but he didn't want to seem overbearing.  
  
"I was in the library. I was studying." Jackson said. "I had my lunch in there." Because he didn't want to bump into people that didn't like him - he didn't want to start any fights accidentally. He wasn't in the mood to play piggy in the middle ever since his social standing dropped to "crazy nobody" thanks to the fact that he'd spent a month away from school and most people believed that he'd had some kind of suicidal episode because of what happened on the Lacrosse field.   
  
"Oh, okay." Well, he couldn't argue with that. If Jackson said that he was eating, then that was good. If he was eating, then Scott couldn't argue with that at all. He couldn't act overbearing and he couldn't mother him. "Tomorrow's Saturday." He then pointed out, as calmly as possible. Were they still going to see each other on the weekends? "I finish work at four. Do you... wanna come over, hang out? Play some video games or something?"  
  
Jackson was taken aback by the sudden request from Scott, asking if he wanted to hang out. Of all the things. He wanted to hang out with Jackson. He wanted to play video games... with Jackson. When was the last time he played video games with someone? With Danny. God, Danny - that friendship was probably up in flames as well thanks to his anger problems. "Um," Jackson shrugged, "sure. I guess. Aren't you going to be hanging out with Stiles or the others?"   
  
Scott shook his head. "They're busy tomorrow. I checked." He'd had this discussion with them at lunch, he'd wanted to see what everyone was doing before he asked Jackson over. He didn't want any of them getting into a heated argument and he didn't want a fight to break out. He wanted to spend some quality time with Jackson to see what was going on. He wanted to make sure that he was doing okay, that he was really doing okay. "You could come over at four thirty? I could order in some dinner, we could play video games or watch a movie or play a board game."   
  
Jackson chewed his lower lip, then nodded. "Yeah, alright, okay. That sounds good." It sounded amazing, actually, but Jackson didn't want to show that he was too excited just in case Scott changed his mind. They were getting closer and closer to Scott's house and the closer they got, the sadder Jackson felt. He didn't want to leave just yet - he enjoyed the comfortable silences between them and he enjoyed the not silences too. "Uh, you have my number, right?"  
  
Scott shook his head and pulled out his phone. "You should type it in so I can text you."  
  
It was like Scott had read Jackson's mind. He came to a stop and typed in his number, then added his name and saved it. He passed the phone back over to Scott and smiled, ever so slightly. "There you go." Yes, he did save his name as "Co-Captain" because he was absolutely that kind of person.  
  
Scott chuckled as he read the name and put his phone back into his pocket with a smile. "Thanks. I'll be able to text you now. Keep you company. Or you can keep me company while I'm working tomorrow." Because the chances were high that the day would be slow and Scott would be left doing absolutely nothing, drooling on the front desk while he waited for a patient that would never show.   
  
"Thanks, Scott." Jackson said, very quietly. He knew that Scott was trying to take care of him, that Scott was being extra vigilant to make sure that Jackson was taking care of himself and he did appreciate it. He appreciated that someone was taking a special interest in him because his parents barely noticed that he was acting different. They'd noticed for all of a few days and then went right back to work.  
  
Scott shrugged and gave Jackson's shoulder a firm squeeze, reassuring but caring. "You don't have to thank me, Jackson. This is what friends do." He shot one of his brighter smiles at Jackson and released his grip, letting his arm fall back down by his side. "I'll text you, okay?"  
  
Jackson nodded and smiled again, hating that Scott was pulling them out of him so easily. He never used to smile this much and now it was just happening more and more. "Yeah, okay. Text me and we can ... talk, or whatever it is you people do." He teased with a nod, beginning the jog back home.   
  
When Scott stepped into the house, he was immediately greeted by his mother who wanted the full story of what was going on with Jackson. Her motherly instincts had kicked in and that was something they had in common. So he sat down with her for the next hour or so, talking about Jackson - telling her everything that he'd learned and everything that he was planning on doing.   
  
They ended up talking for most of the night, ordering in food and eating it at the table (which was something they rarely ever did) and by the time Scott got upstairs, it was nearing 10.30. Still, though, he pulled his phone out and sent out a quick text to Jackson, reading  _'Hey, Co-Captain, it's your buddy Scott. See you tomorrow @ 4.30'_  
  
His phone buzzed about ten minutes later with a message from Jackson, reading  _'See you then, buddy :)'_  
  
Scott put his phone on charge and set it down on the bedside table, then snuggled up into bed. For the first time in a long time, he felt like he'd achieved something good. Like he'd done something that really was going to change someone's life. He was going to change Jackson's life, for the better.


	4. sleepovers can be fun

The next morning, Scott managed not to oversleep (which was definitely a blessing in disguise because he had so many things he needed to do before he left for work). He managed to tidy up the house, throw his clothes in the wash basket, start up a new load of washing and take a shower all before his alarm went off to let him know that he needed to get moving for work.  
  
He made his way outside and started up the bike, driving past Jackson's house to see if he could see anything. His car wasn't there, which made Scott wonder if he was at home or not. Maybe he'd gone out, maybe he'd gone to the store or something - he had no reason to worry too much, right? Sure, Jackson was acting ... odd, he was acting a little strange but that was to be expected after all he'd gone through.   
  
Still, Scott couldn't get that niggling feeling to go away even as he parked up outside of work. It stayed with him, biting and growling at the back of his head. Something didn't seem right but he couldn't place what it was. Maybe nothing was wrong and he was just over-worrying because he'd gotten attached to this new side of Jackson, maybe that was what it was.   
  
Lunch time came around and Scott finally gave into the feeling, gave into the nagging feeling to check up on Jackson with a quick and simple text message. One he could only hope he'd get some kind of not-vague response to. Jackson was good at vague responses, so was Stiles - come to think of it. Something they shared in common. If Scott told him that, Stiles would probably lose his mind or combust right in front of him.   
  
 _Hey Jackson, it's me again. Just checking in cause I didn't see your car in the drive when I went past on my way to work._    
  
From the minute Scott pressed send, he could feel his heart racing hard in his chest - threatening to give out on him from the worry and the concern that he'd been overwhelmed with for most of the day. He couldn't place why he felt so worried all of a sudden, he couldn't make the connection. Was it because Jackson was acting so quiet now? Was it because Jackson was ... not very Jackson-like anymore? It had to be something.   
  
 _Hi, Scott. Yeah, I'm fine. The car is in the garage. I went for a run this morning. Didn't feel the same without you there. Still on for tonight?_  
  
It was the worst possible timing. His lunch break had just come to an end but he took a few extra seconds just to read the message, to compose his own and send it out. Scott couldn't say anything about his text tone because they'd never really text each other before. Scott had been too 'uncool' for Jackson once upon a time and now he was taking care of Jackson.  
  
 _Aw, buddy. We could have gone for a run tonight! Kept the routine going. Yep! Still on for tonight. Be @ mine for 4.30 :)_  
  
Once the text was officially sent, Scott put his phone back on silent and shoved it into his pocket to be forgotten about until his shift came to an end. He was getting more and more used to running the place on his own because Deaton was giving him more responsibility. It also meant that he was getting paid a little bit more and he really wasn't going to complain about that. Any money was good to him, he needed it.   
  
Soon enough, it was time for Scott to swap shifts with Deaton. It was time to go home because he was done for the day. Thankfully, as predicted, the day was relatively slow. Just a few regulars coming in for check ups, nothing too strenuous or heart-wrenching. He wasn't sure Jackson would want to be around him if he smelled like sadness.   
  
He made his way outside and checked his phone quickly, seeing the response from Jackson that read ' _See you then_ '. That gave him exactly half an hour to get home and get everything set up. They could play board games, they could play video games or they could watch a movie. The fourth option was that they went for a run through the forest or something, to get rid of any excess energy Jackson might have had.   
  
Thankfully, the drive back to his house wasn't all that far and he made it back with time to spare. Which meant he had time to get in and grab everything. He parked up the bike and walked up to the front door, fished out his keys and unlocked it. He nudged the front door open and he made his way into the kitchen to be greeted by that familiar note, the bright yellow post-it from his mom.  
  
 _Scott, got called into work. Left money for food. See u later, Mom. x_  
  
He smiled at the post it and peeled it off of the table and threw it into the trash, then pocketed the money she'd left for him to use for food. There was more than enough for him to order food for the both of them because Jackson wasn't getting away with paying for their food today. Not a chance. He could try and try but Scott wasn't going to give in this time.   
  
Scott made his way up the stairs and grabbed a few DVDs, along with a few different games that they could play and two board games. That would be plenty, wouldn't it? That would be more than enough to keep them occupied until Jackson was ready to leave. He wasn't even sure what time that would be, if he was honest. Not that he minded. Jackson could stay there for as long as he wanted to. As long as he felt better.   
  
That was what mattered, wasn't it? He wanted Jackson to feel better because he was struggling, severely, and all he wanted was to make sure that he felt good, that he felt safe with Scott. He set everything down on the table and moved back into the kitchen so that he could get out two glasses and set them down on the counter. He wasn't sure what Jackson would want to drink and he wanted to be prepared.   
  
At that exact moment, he heard the door bell ring and he turned his head, then smiled brightly. From ear to ear. Who knew that Jackson could warrant such a response from Scott? That he could get the signature Scott McCall smile from him? He walked to the door and pulled it open with a grin, cheek resting against the door frame.   
  
"Hey, stranger." Scott said, looking over his shoulder to see that oh-so-familiar porsche. "You brought your car."   
  
Jackson's gaze followed Scott's and he looked towards his car, smiled barely, then looked back to Scott. "Yeah, I did. I didn't know what time I'd be leaving and I didn't want to jog home when it's late." When it's dark. When the bad things come out to play, when the things that he's the most afraid of are more likely to get him - more likely to pull him down into the depths of hell.   
  
"Well, come on in. I have everything ready for you." Scott said, taking a step back to welcome Jackson into his home. For the first time. If you'd asked Scott three months ago if he ever thought he'd be inviting Jackson into his home, he would have scoffed in disbelief. He wouldn't have believed anyone if he'd been told that this was going to happen.   
  
Jackson stepped into the house and took a quick look around. It was a homey place and he meant that in the nice way. It looked lived in. It looked like it belonged to a happy family that were close. There were pictures all over the walls of Scott and his mom, there were pictures of Scott and Stiles, there were pictures everywhere. Jackson could feel the hollowness in his stomach.   
  
His house didn't look like Scott's. There were barely any pictures on the walls, the house didn't really look lived in. The house didn't look like it had anyone happy in it. Jackson's family was very different to Scott's and he wished, more than anything, that he belonged to a family like the McCalls. He wished that he belonged to a family like that.  
  
Jackson's family wasn't the greatest at showing their love. They weren't great at being affectionate with him, they weren't great at any of that. They told him that they loved him but it never felt real. It felt hollow more than anything because they'd lied to him for so long about his adoption. He wished that they would have been honest from the get go, that they didn't with-hold such vital information from him. He wished that they showed him love in the way that other parents did.  
  
"Hey, you okay?" Scott's voice brought him back to reality and he cleared his throat.   
  
Jackson realised quickly that his eyes were burning and he reached up to touch his cheek, which was wet. He was crying. Fantastic. He cleared his throat again and quickly wiped both of his eyes and then his cheeks. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm good." His voice betrayed him, though, it was shaky and wavering and it sounded like he was going to burst into tears any second now.   
  
Scott frowned as Jackson wiped away the evidence that he'd been crying but he didn't say anything more about it. He clearly had a lot of pent up emotions, a lot of emotions that he was scared to let out. Hopefully, as time passed, Jackson would feel more comfortable to be that way around Scott. To be sad and vulnerable and uncomfortable around him. That was the goal, wasn't it? For Jackson to trust Scott.   
  
"Okay, if you're sure." Scott whispered. He reached over to squeeze Jackson's hand, thumb gliding carefully over his wrist. He stayed that way for a minute or two and then released. "Sit down, make yourself at home." Scott gestured to the couch with a nod of his head and a smile. "Do you want something to drink? We have water, soda, squash and coffee."   
  
Jackson appreciated Scott's warmth, his affection and attention. Somehow he managed to make Jackson feel like he was the only person in the world that mattered. He managed to make Jackson feel like he was the most important person in the entire universe and that was ... really something. Jackson wasn't really sure how Scott managed to do it with such a simple action and a smile.  
  
"Uh," he glanced around for a moment then made eye contact with Scott, "Soda? Soda's good." He didn't sound all that certain but that was because he was too busy looking at the multitude of games that Scott had brought down for them to go through. Was that chutes and ladders? He smiled lightly, nose scrunching up a little. He hadn't ever played that before.   
  
"Okay. One soda coming right up." Scott smiled and patted Jackson's shoulder. "Seriously. Take a seat. Have a look at the games, see if there's anything there you wanna play." Then he made his way towards the kitchen and grabbed two cans of soda. He poured them into the glasses and set the empty cans on the side. He made his way back into the living room and set the glasses down on the table. "Find anything you like yet?"  
  
Jackson had kind of lost himself looking at all the games. Games that he'd never played before. Games that he played with Danny. Which had led to the realisation that Danny might hate him because he'd just cut him off out of nowhere. He'd stopped talking to him and that was a really dick move, even for Jackson. It was a really dick-ish move and he wasn't sure if Danny would forgive him for this.  
  
He cleared his throat again and looked up to Scott, then reached forward to grab one of the xbox games. Mario Kart. He grinned, almost deviously, and waved it lightly. "This one." He said with a firm nod. "I'm good at this one." Which wasn't the point of the game, was it? It wasn't to see who was the best, it wasn't for any of that competitive stuff, it was so that Jackson could take his mind off of everything.   
  
Scott nodded and laughed. "I thought you might pick that one. It seems like a very you game to play." it was competitive. It was exactly the kind of game that Jackson would want to play because it would show off his skills. It was also exactly the right kind of game for them to be playing. Scott wasn't great at Mario Kart and that had been proved several times because Stiles had beaten him multiple times now. That meant Jackson was going to win and that was going to make him feel better. "Alright, Mario Kart it is." He took the game case and stood up, moved over to the xbox and knelt down. He put the disc into the xbox and grabbed the two controllers.   
  
Jackson smiled as he watched Scott move towards the xbox and grab the controllers and he took the one offered to him as Scott came back. He flopped down onto the couch next to Jackson and he waited for the TV to come to life, along with the xbox. Everything started up with that familiar noise and Jackson leaned back with a smile. "I'm going to kick your ass at this, you know that, right?" There it was again. That familiar side of Jackson poking through.  
  
"Uhhuh. If you say so." Scott said, clearly tormenting - clearly trying to goad him. It was working, judging by the way Jackson stiffened and sat up a little more, leaned forward like he really meant business. Scott smiled to himself and did the same, took on the same position. He logged them both in on separate accounts, then loaded the game up and picked his driver, along with his car.  
  
Jackson did the same thing, picking his character and his car. Then they picked the races, deciding to go with something easy for their first one, just as a try-out. To figure out their bearings. To make sure that they had the right cars, that they weren't too hard to drive - that they wouldn't make it too hard when they reached the proper races.  
  
Throughout the entire trial race, Jackson was smiling - he was laughing, he was nudging Scott's shoulder with his own in a playful manner. It was going well. It was going a lot better than Jackson expected. Jackson had expected it to be awkward, he'd expected it to go all kinds of wrong but so far... so good.   
  
"Alright, now we've done the preliminary racing, you ready to get into the big leagues?" Scott asked with a smile. "You should have a drink first because this is going to be half an hour of hardcore gaming." Even Scott did what he said, leaned forward and took a sip of his drink - which turned into a very long gulp. He swallowed half the glass then set it down and moments later, he burped. He laughed a little and covered his mouth. "Pardon me."  
  
Jackson snorted at Scott, head shaking a little bit. "The big leagues is where I thrive, McCall. That's when I'm going to kick your ass." He said with a big grin. He did as he was told, though, and leaned forward to take a long sip of his drink. A long big gulp that resulted in him burping almost right after Scott. "Looks like we're in sync." He teased.   
  
"It's a weird thing to be in sync for." Scott said with a little chuckle, head shaking as he started the next round.  
  
The next half an hour was full of laughter, full of smiles and teasing back and forths. Jackson almost lost one game but managed to find his way back to first place by lightly jabbing his elbow into Scott's side, which understandably earned him a yelp and a very unimpressed look from Scott. That made Jackson laugh, a proper laugh - a sound that Scott hadn't heard from Jackson in this kind of context before.   
  
"You little cheater," Scott laughed, eyes narrowing, "that was totally cheating. You can't do that." Once the final round was over, his own elbow nudged into Jackson's side playfully. That earned him a little snort.  
  
"I didn't cheat. I just distracted you. It's different." Jackson said with a shrug. "It definitely wasn't cheating. Besides, there's nobody here to say for sure if it was or not."   
  
"That's a terrible reasoning, Jackson, but sure. We'll go with that." 

"Mm, it's a perfect reasoning and you know it. You're just jealous because I won three rounds in a row which means I'm the winner." Jackson grinned. "It's a shame we didn't bet on this. 'Cause if we did, I would have had you kissing my feet by now."

Scott rose a brow at that. "Then why don't we bet on this one? If I win, you do what I say and if you win, I'll do what you say." That would make things interesting, wouldn't it? To say the very least. It meant that there was something on the line, something to win or something to lose. Scott would have to think of something just in case he won. Which was relatively unlikely because he sucked, hard.  
"Alright, McCall. You're on. Best two out of three wins." Jackson said, offering his hand out for Scott to shake on the deal. Which he did. 

Then it was game on. It was probably the most intense half an hour of gaming that Scott had ever sat through. The final game was the most intense, with Scott in the lead for the first half of the game before Jackson took over and unsurprisingly, won the game overall. Scott groaned, loudly, then set the controller down on the table so that he could throw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "I knew that was going to happen." 

Jackson laughed in success and set the controller down on the table, then took a victory sip of his soda. "I told you, Scott. I'm good at this game and I kicked your ass." He grinned, huffing out a low breath as he relaxed back against the couch.

"Yeah, yeah, okay. I thought you were just trying to intimidate me. Guess you were just ... right." Scott shrugged with a small smile. He wasn't that much of a sore loser, not when he knew that he sucked at the game anyway. "So, what do you want now that you've won? You get to decide something, anything, for me to do." That was essentially the rules, wasn't it? If Jackson won, Scott had to do what he said. There was no limit given on it or anything so things were about to get interesting.

Jackson sat back a little more and stretched out. He went silent for a little while, thinking through the options of what he could have Scott do. This was like a dream come true, wasn't it? It was power that he never thought he'd be capable of having. The kind of power that made him sit and think through it because he had one chance, he had one thing that he could ask for and Scott couldn't refuse. So he needed to think through it carefully. There were so many things he wanted to ask for but he needed to limit it down to just the one thing. 

"Okay," Jackson breathed out after a few minutes of total silence - of Scott just staring at him like he'd broken - "I want to stay here tonight because I want ... you to hold me tonight." There, now he'd said it. He hated saying it, he hated the way it made him sound. He hated everything about the words that had just come tumbling out of his mouth. 

Scott looked just a little confused. For only a second or two. Then it passed and there was that signature smile once more, taking over the entirety of Scott's face. Bright and wonderful, like the sun had just walked into the room. He understood why Jackson wanted to stay there. He understood it more than Jackson did. It was for multiple reasons, wasn't it? Because he wanted to see if having someone else in the bed with him could scare away the nightmares. He wanted the comfort of someone being in the bed with him. Scott understood it and he wasn't going to make fun of Jackson for being so vulnerable. "Alright, you can stay." 

Jackson felt like his heart was going to blow up, like it was going to beat too fast for too long and blow up right there in his chest. He let out a long, deep, breath and looked up to Scott with wide eyes when he said yes. Jackson could stay there for the night. That was ... actually kind of expected. Of course Scott would let him stay. Scott probably would have said yes to just about anything even without the stupid bet. He was just like that. He was that kind of person. A kind hearted, caring, compassionate and empathetic person. "Yeah? Y-okay. Okay. Cool. Whatever." Smooth save, Jackson.

Scott's nose wrinkled at Jackson's attempted 'cool attitude' though it only made Scott laugh quietly. He looked down to his watch and then back up to Jackson. "Should we order in some food?" He could have cooked but he had no idea what was in the fridges at that particular moment and he didn't want Jackson to see the empty pantry. That would just ... not be ideal, really.

"Yeah. I'm starving." Now that Scott had mentioned food, Jackson's stomach started to rumble hungrily. 

"Me too. I'll go get the menu. Chinese okay with you?" Scott was already half way to the kitchen by the time he'd finished his sentence.

"Chinese is great." Jackson replied, leaning down so that he could undo his shoelaces and toe off his shoes. He stood up and moved them to the shoe rack by the front door, then made his way back to the couch where he sat down and shimmied back on the cushion so he could rest against the cushions with a happy smile. 

Scott came back out with the menu and handed it over to Jackson, then grabbed his phone and sat down by Jackson again. "Take your pick of what you want and I'll order it." 

Jackson glanced down the menu and ran his finger down it, looking over the options. Then he picked out a few numbers and repeated them to Scott. They weren't expensive items but they were enough to fill him up the for the night.

Scott nodded and ordered their food, then put the phone down and hummed. "Food will be here in forty five minutes." 

Jackson nodded and stretched out against the couch. "What are we going to do while we wait? Forty five minutes is a long time." He looked at Scott with a raise of his eyebrow, smile growing a little devious.

Scott swallowed at the look on Jackson's face, the deviousness of his smile and the sparkle in his eyes. He was right ... forty five minutes was a long time.


	5. you are safe with me

Forty five minutes was a very long time.   
  
A lot of things could be done in that time. They could play another game of Mario Kart, they could watch two episodes of a series that was twenty minutes long - they could watch a forty minute long single episode. They could play another game, like chutes and ladders - a game that could be resumed once they were finished with food. They could do so many things in that time frame. But what? That was the question.   
  
Scott was struggling to answer that question because of the look on Jackson's face. The look on his face was nothing short of mischievous, devious - like he had something planned. Like he had already planned something but he was waiting for Scott to finish his half of the sentence. Scott was usually really good under pressure but right now, his brain was struggling to function. His brain had apparently decided that now was the best time to stop walking altogether.

Jackson sat there, patiently, waiting for Scott to come up with some kind of answer. Some kind of decision. It seemed like he was struggling because he'd been sat there for the last five or so minutes with a very nonchalant look on his face. He definitely looked like he was struggling to come up with some kind of answer, maybe because there were too many variables in the room.   
Some part of Scott felt like this was a trick question. That Jackson had only said what he did in the way that he did with that look on his face to make Scott squirm. That was something that the old Jackson would have done just for a bit of fun, just for the laughs. 

What if it wasn't a trick question, though? What if Jackson really did want to know Scott's input? His opinion? 

Scott swallowed, fingers tapping lightly against his knees. There were too many options. Too many choices. He looked to Jackson, then around the room and finally landed back on Jackson again. He shrugged, very lightly. Because he didn't know what to suggest. "We could... watch a show? We could ... play chutes and ladders. We could ... start a movie and finish it after we eat or we could finish it while we eat... we could do a lot of things in forty five minutes, Jackson."  
  
Jackson chuckled as Scott went through essentially every option there was, pointing out all the different things that they could do. Jackson smiled a little and settled back against the couch. "Or we could just sit here." He said, making a point of settling back against the couch. He turned his head and settled it against the couch cushions, hands resting in his lap.

"Wh-well, yeah, we could... we could that, too." Scott hadn't been expecting that, actually. Scott had been expecting something else because of the look on Jackson's face. He'd expected something far worse than just sitting there, relaxing - taking the world in minute by minute. "Do you ... do you want some background noise on or do you wanna just ... sit here?" 

Jackson's brow raised a little as Scott mentioned background noise and he grinned. "Yeah, actually. How about some music?" He liked music, music made him feel a little bit better. 

Scott nodded and pushed up from the couch. He made his way quickly up the stairs and then came back down with a small speaker and set it down on the table. He plugged it into his phone and started typing on Youtube to bring up a few different songs.

Jackson stopped him from changing the music any more once he hit a pop kind of song, one that had bass, one that sent the music right through his chest. He could feel the music in his ears. Jackson grinned and stood up, shaking out his arms and legs. He wriggled himself out a little and moved towards Jackson, shimmying his body as he walked.

Scott's brow rose as he watched Jackson stand up and start to shimmy towards him. He couldn't hold back his laughter, eyes sparkling with joy as he watched this new side of Jackson start to show. He was getting comfortable, right? That or he was faking it. This didn't seem faked. It didn't seem like the kind of thing that Jackson could fake. He laughed, smiling brightly - lighting up the entire room with his smile. 

"Come on, McCall. Dance with me." Jackson said, extending his arms towards Scott to take hold of his wrists. He wriggled Scott's arms out to loosen up his body, doing the same to his own arms. He wanted Scott to loosen up because he looked tense and with everything Scott had gone through, he could use a few minutes to relax. 

Scott finally gave into the request and he moved his hands to take hold of Jackson's hands, lacing their fingers together. He wriggled their arms and laughed quietly, hips swaying side to side (completely out of sync to the music but he didn't care - he'd never been that good of a dancer anyways).

Jackson smiled, warmly, as Scott laced their fingers together and wriggled their arms in turn. He stepped in closer, moving their connected hands. He placed them both on Scott's hips and stepped in closer again, until their chests were almost touching. 

They were getting a little too close for a song that required movement, that required dancing and swaying. Jackson didn't really care that much because he liked the closeness, he liked the fact that he was making Scott smile that stupid signature smile that lit up the entire room. Like the sun. He was the sun, wasn't he? He was beautiful when he smiled like that, beautiful eyes sparkling. 

Wait, what? 

 _Snap out of it, Jackson_. Jackson cleared his throat and gave Scott's hands a gentle squeeze before he released them, pulling his own hands back to rest against his sides while he danced - wriggling his body side to side. Scott seemed a little... what? Put out? Yeah, he did. He looked like he was put out because Jackson had let go of his hands.

Scott was feeling a little ... confused. One minute, they were holding hands and dancing really close to each other and Jackson was staring into his eyes like he was mesmerised by them and the next minute, Jackson was clearing his throat and releasing his hands and looking the world of ... terrified, if Scott had to put a word to the look on Jackson's face. He looked vulnerable, scared. Scott reached out then, to take Jackson's hands and give them a squeeze.

"Do you want to do something else?" Scott asked loudly, so that he could be heard over the music - he still didn't know the full extent of Jackson's biology - of his powers, of what he could and couldn't do. He wasn't a complete werewolf, he was a were-kanima - which meant that he was unknown territory, Scott had no idea what his powers were, what he could do that a werewolf could do. 

"What? No! We're dancing." Jackson pointed out with a smile, squeezing Scott's hands back in return. "I want to keep dancing." 

"Alright, okay. Dancing it is." Scott laughed, dancing happily in front of Jackson. He did seem actually happy, which was a good thing. He liked that. He wanted Jackson to be happy, even if it was a little superficial. There was no way that he was this fine after everything he'd told Scott just days ago. 

The dancing was apparently quite a good idea because after ten minutes of it, Jackson was flopping down onto the couch, a little breathless. He spread out on the couch, legs stretched over the arm and his head resting on the other arm while he watched Scott dance, throwing his arms around like a flailing baby. He was cute while he tried to dance, while he attempted to dance. 

Eventually, Scott began to wear himself down and he was growing more and more tired - Jackson could see it in the way Scott was moving. The way his body began to slow down, the sluggishness of his movements. Soon enough, he was walking towards the couch and looking to Jackson expectantly. Like he was waiting for him to move.

Jackson shook his head and patted his legs. "Either you sit there or you don't sit at all, dude. I'm not moving until that bell rings and the food shows up." He said firmly, sternly, because he meant business. He wasn't moving until he heard the doorbell ring and then, only then, would he get up.

Scott placed both hands on his hips and tilted his head, brow raised in surprise. "Seriously, dude? You're really going to make me sit on your legs, of all places?" He both could and couldn't believe Jackson's attitude. He was being super ridiculous and Scott supposed that he could allow it just for the night because Jackson was having fun, he was showing this new side of himself that actually knew what the word fun meant.

"Yep. Sit or no dice." Jackson repeated, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

"Fine! Fine. God. You're stubborn." Scott muttered, nose scrunched up a little as he hesitantly turned out and lowered himself down onto Jackson's legs. "Better?"

"I know I'm stubborn. It's one of my more problematic traits." He said, honestly owning up to the problems he knew about. "Much." He reached forward then and wrapped his arms around Scott's waist, pulling him down to lay against his chest.

"What-!" Scott yelped out in surprise as Jackson pulled him down to his chest and he looked up with a raise of his brow. "What are you doing?" 

Jackson smiled. "You didn't want to sit on my legs so technically, you're not. You're laying on my chest." 

This was weird, right? It felt weird. At the same time, though, it didn't feel weird. It didn't feel all that weird to Scott. It felt... almost natural, in a way. He let his head settle down against Jackson's chest and he listened for his heart beat, nose scrunching up a little as Jackson's heart pounded harder in his chest. 

"You okay?" Scott asked, looking back up to Jackson with a concerned smile.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" It was Jackson's turn to raise a brow, curious as to why Scott was asking how he was. He was fine, wasn't he? He felt fine.

"No... no reason. Your heart is just beating really fast." Scott said with a frown. Jackson didn't know that his heart was beating that fast or he did and he was choosing to ignore it.

Jackson didn't respond to that, only shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, I guess it is." He was choosing to ignore the way his body was responding, how his body had been responding to Scott all day. Longer than that, actually. For the last few days. His body had been responding in all kinds of different ways and he was trying to ignore it, to pretend that it wasn't there.

Scott didn't push it any further. Instead he let his head fall back down to his chest and he settled there, listening to his heart beat. He smiled warmly as he felt the hand settle on his back, rubbing lightly up and down his back.

"Food's coming." Scott said, pressing his face into Jackson's chest. He breathed in slowly, stomach twisting and flipping. Then he pushed to hover above Jackson, faces just inches apart. He smiled again, all teeth and bright eyes. Then he pushed to stand up and made his way to the door just as it knocked and he opened it, handing the money over and taking the bag. 

"Just how sensitive is your hearing?" Jackson asked as he sat up on the couch, resting his head on the cushion to watch Scott walk back towards it and sit down. His head followed as Scott moved and his legs swung over the edge to give Scott somewhere to sit for the time being.

"Pretty sensitive. I can hear people coming up the driveway. Sometimes I can tell the make of a car by the engine." He said with a smile. He turned his head to look at Jackson and unpacked the bag, setting the plastic containers on the table. "I'm gonna go the knives and forks." 

Scott stood up and went to grab the knives and forks for them, then came back into the living room and sat down. He passed a set over to Jackson with a smile and took the lid off of his container. He put his fork into the food and swirled it around the noodles, then held his hand out so that he didn't drop any of the food on the carpet on the way to his mouth. 

Jackson did the same thing, letting his hand hover beneath the fork as he guided it towards his mouth because he didn't want to make a mess. He was a guest in this house, after all. He didn't really want to piss off Scott's mom because mothers' - he'd heard - could have quite the temperament. Not that he'd ever seen his adoptive mother get angry. 

The two of them sat in silence, eating quietly - no small talk was made. 

That was okay, Scott thought to himself. He knew that Jackson had probably over-reached, maybe he'd done too much and he was struggling to reel it back in. There could be so many things going on in his head but he wouldn't tell Scott, he wasn't ready for that yet, was he? Scott didn't think that he was ready to get all touchy feely with his emotions and that was okay. Progress was being made, ever so slowly. 

Scott finished his food with a happy groan and set his fork down, stretching his arms up into the sky. "Mm. That was good. Really good." He pushed everything a little further up the table and turned his head to look at Jackson who had just finished the last bite of his food. "You enjoy that?"

Jackson nodded and covered his mouth as he chewed and swallowed. "Yeah, that was really good. Uh, thanks. For buying it. I saw you pay for it at the door. Didn't even give me a chance to get there." He smiled, head shaking fondly. 

"Yeah, I know. That was the point. I wanted to get there before you did so you couldn't pay twice in a row." Scott smiled, throwing a little wink in his direction.   
Jackson laughed at the pathetic attempt of a wink being thrown his way. "You're really cute when you try, you know?" That seemed to strike some kind of chord with Scott because the minute Jackson stopped speaking, his entire face turned a scarlet shade of red. 

"What? I'm not - I was just... being friendly." Scott said, looking down to his empty containers. "I was just trying to be nice."

"Uhhuh." Jackson smiled, stretching out his arms and his legs. He pulled his legs up to cross them on the couch and his head fell back against the cushions again. He yawned quietly and moved a hand to cover his mouth. He was getting tired, now that he'd eaten. 

"Hey, you getting tired? D'you wanna take this party upstairs? Put a movie on?" Scott asked, looking to Jackson as he cuddled up on the couch like some kind of tired toddler. 

"Mm. Yeah. Okay." Jackson was tired. He'd been tired for months. He'd been tired for so long, he couldn't remember what life felt like before. He couldn't remember a time where he wasn't tired. He was barely sleeping. Whenever he did sleep, he usually woke up in the middle of the night because of the nightmares. 

Scott patted his leg softly and smiled. He stood up and offered out both of his hands. "Come on. You're falling asleep on the couch." Not that he minded, he just had better ideas in mind. "Don't think I've forgotten that you want to sleep in my bed tonight." 

It was Jackson's turn to blush a little bit as he took hold of Scott's hands and pulled himself up to stand. "I'm awake." He said quietly, blinking a few times as if he was trying to wake himself up a little more. 

Scott squeezed his hands and guided him towards the stairs, then released on hand and laced their fingers together and gently pulled him up the stairs. He looked over his shoulder, to make sure that Jackson was still awake as he walked up the stairs. He reached the top of the stairs and guided Jackson to his bedroom. 

"Sit down on the bed and I'll get some extra PJ's for you." They were roughly the same size, weren't they? Scott was sure that he had some clothes spare that Jackson could wear for the night. He couldn't imagine that Jackson would want to sleep in his jeans.

Jackson nodded and dragged himself towards the bed and plopped down onto the edge of it, hands resting on his knees. It was taking everything in his power not to fall back against the bed and fall asleep. He wanted to but he couldn't. He yawned quietly, hand covering his mouth.

Scott came back with the clean PJ's and handed them to Jackson. "I'm going to change in the bathroom so you can change here." He said with a smile, then walked to the en-suite bathroom of his room and closed the door. He changed out of his clothes and into his PJ's, which consisted of a pair of bottoms and no shirt. 

Jackson watched as Scott moved into the bathroom and closed the door, giving him time and space to change. He stood up and wriggled out of his jeans and pulled the bottoms on. He didn't bother putting his shirt on because he very rarely slept in a shirt. "I'm decent." He called out to Scott, to let him know that he could come out.

Scott heard him call out and he opened the door, cheeks flushing pink as he saw Jackson sat on his bed, shirtless. He was shirtless, too. It shouldn't have been a surprise. A lot of guys slept shirtless. Stiles didn't, Stiles had never slept without a shirt on but Jackson did. That didn't surprise him. That shouldn't have surprised him. 

"You ready?" Scott asked, smiling as he walked into the bedroom and pulled the bathroom door shut. He moved to the TV in his room and put in a DVD, just a random one - so they had some kind of background noise. Scott had to imagine that Jackson was going to fall asleep soon. Very soon. He looked exhausted. 

Jackson nodded, moving to lay down on the bed. He settled on the left side of the bed and slid underneath the covers, smiling warmly as he waited for Scott to come back to the bed after putting the DVD on. He'd pressed play and set the volume to a low number, not too high but not low enough that they couldn't hear it if they were listening.

Scott moved towards the bed and settled down on it, sliding underneath the covers. He shifted in closer to Jackson and pressed up against his back, arm covering his waist. His hand splayed out against his stomach and he felt Jackson's stomach tense underneath his touch. "Is this okay?" He asked quietly, chin resting on Jackson's shoulder - breath ghosting over his ear. 

Jackson nodded, letting his hand drop over Scott's. He laced their fingers together and held his hand against Jackson's stomach. "Yeah, it's okay. Stay... like this." He hadn't asked and neither had Scott. Scott had just assumed that this was what he wanted and he was right. This was what he wanted, what he needed. He needed close touch, he needed comfort. Something he hadn't had in a while. Comfort that wasn't toxic, comfort that was good and healthy. 

Part of that was his own fault, though. He'd been horrible to just about everyone but now... now he was changing his life for the better, hopefully.

Scott pressed his face against Jackson's shoulder and breathed in with a small smile. He squeezed Jackson's hand and listened to his heart rate begin to slow down. Soon enough, Jackson's heart rate began to slow down to the point where Scott was almost entirely sure that he'd fallen asleep. 

"Jackson?" He whispered against his shoulder. No response. Yeah, he was asleep. Scott took the hint and snuggled into Jackson's back, squeezing his hand lightly. Soon enough, he was falling asleep - drifting off into a dreamless slumber.

The last thing Jackson remembered was how nice it felt to have someone's hand on his stomach, how nice it felt to have someone pressed up against his back - giving him more warmth than he'd felt in a while. That was the last thing he remembered before he fell asleep. 

A sleep that was, for the first time in months, complete and uninterrupted. 

All thanks to Scott, he'd had an uninterrupted and nightmare-free sleep.

Scott really was changing his life, wasn't he?


	6. when you least expect it

When Jackson woke up the next morning, he expected Scott to be right behind him. Because that was where Scott was when he'd fallen asleep last night. Scott had been snuggled right up against his back and they'd been holding hands, they'd been snuggling - spooning, in fact. But when Jackson wiggled himself back, Scott wasn't there. There was no firmness behind him.

That started a panic in his chest. He'd shown the smallest amount of vulnerability, he'd let himself feel something - he'd let himself feel something for Scott and now Scott wasn't there. He'd scared him off. Brilliant! Scott didn't want him now that he'd shown his vulnerability. Now that he'd shown some kind of ... emotion, Scott had made a break for it.

Jackson sat up in the bed, fists scrunching and clenching the fabric of the blanket covering his body. He breathed out shakily, uneven and unsteady, chest heaving with each inhale and exhale. He looked around the room for any signs of Scott, panic rising higher and higher in his chest. He'd revealed some of his darkest secrets to Scott because he thought he could trust him and now he was gone. Nowhere to be seen.

Just as Jackson was getting ready to get out of the bed and go looking for Scott, he heard the heavy footsteps on the top of the stairs. So he stayed where he was, waiting for whoever it was to come into the room. Was it Scott's mom? Was she about to kick his ass six ways to sunday? He hadn't done anything bad, he hadn't hurt Scott - he hadn't done anything that would result in getting his ass kicked but he could never be sure.

Anxiety levels dropped almost as soon as he saw who it was. Scott, wearing that stupid smile, still half naked but with a tray filled with food.

"Good morning, sleepy head. Or should I say, good afternoon?" Scott said with a warm smile, walking back into the bedroom carefully, balancing everything on the tray.

"What do you mean?" Jackson asked, looking over to the clock on the beside table. 12.45. Oh shit! "Wait - it's afternoon? Shit, how long did I sleep?"

"Long. I wasn't sure when you were going to wake up so I made some food for when you did." Scott set the tray down on the bed and then slowly slid back under the covers and snuggled into Jackon's side. "You... smell like Stiles."

Jackson shot him a look then, a look that was beyond offended.

"Not like that. I mean, you smell like Stiles does. You smell anxious." Scott said, nose scrunching up a little bit. The smell wasn't pleasant, not by any means.

"Oh." Jackson said quietly. "It's nothing. I'm fine."   
Scott didn't seem to like that answer, judging by the look on his face. 

"I'm fine, really, Scott." Jackson said again. 

"Jackson," Scott started, "I'd like to think that we're friends now. Close friends, even. Because you've told me some really deep stuff about yourself. I'd like to think that we're friends and that means, you don't lie to me when something's wrong. If you lie to me, then I can't help you. I don't like to use it but I can tell when you're lying because your heart upticks."

Jackson frowned when Scott revealed that he could tell when he was lying - which essentially put him right in the shit, didn't it? Scott knew that he was lying. He shouldn't have lied. "I just - okay, look, don't ... call me stupid or make fun of me but I thought you'd done a runner. I thought you'd ... I thought you'd left me because you didn't like the way that I am now. I thought you... didn't want to get to know me anymore. I got scared because I know that we're ... connecting. Because we're ... we're more than friends, right? We're ... something. I thought that - because I opened up to you, that you got scared and then everything yesterday, the flirting and the - the having a good time, I thought you were going to leave me." 

Scott's heart was practically bleeding as Jackson spoke, admitting that he was scared that Scott was going to up and leave him. That he thought Scott had left him. Which was ridiculous, given that it was his house. But he understood where Jackson was coming from. He'd opened himself up, he was vulnerable and he was scared. Scott turned himself around a little bit so that he could take hold of Jackson's hands and lace their fingers together. 

"Jackson," Scott said softly, "I'm not going anywhere, okay? I'm not going to leave you. I knew what I was getting into, I knew that. I'm not going to leave you because you've got baggage, because you're a little different. We're all a little different, you know? All of us." Scott squeezed his hands again. "I'm not going anywhere." 

Scott really did know how to make him feel better, didn't he? He knew how to assuage all of his worries and throw them into the trash. Jackson sighed and squeezed his hands back. "I wasn't imagining it, right? The flirting? That was real, right?" 

A blush dusted over Scott's cheeks and he cleared his throat, squeezing Jackson's hands again. "No, you weren't imagining it. I just didn't want to act on it because we've only just started talking again and I didn't want you to think I was taking advantage of you because you're not feeling too good."

Jackson flushed, furiously, head ducking slightly to look down at their hands. Of course Scott was being that person. Considerate and careful to make sure that he wasn't overstepping. "You're not taking advantage of me."   
  
Scott smiled and squeezed his hands again. "Yeah? I still don't want to do anything just yet, Jackson. I want to make sure that you're okay, first." 

Ever the good boy, wasn't he? Jackson hated and loved that he was considerate, that he was so good. He breathed out and looked to the food on the tray, stomach growling. "Can we eat?" 

A laugh erupted from the back of Scott's throat and he nodded. "Yeah, we can." He let go of Jackson's hands and reached forward to pull the tray up towards their bodies.

Jackson immediately dug in, taking some toast to nibble on it hungrily. "So, what does this make us?" He asked between mouthfuls, looking to Scott with a hopeful expression.

"What do you want it to make us?" Scott asked, reaching for some of his own toast. He took a few bites and chewed happily while he waited for Jackson to speak.

"I want it to make us something." Jackson said, looking to Scott with a light shrug of his shoulders. He wasn't sure what he wanted to label what they were just yet. He wasn't sure if Scott was ready to be with a mess like him. 

"Then it can be something." Scott replied, a hand covering his mouth while he chewed on the last of his toast. "It doesn't have to be anything serious right now, you know? It can just be something we're trying out. Like a test drive on Mario Kart. To see if we're a good fit or not." 

Because Lord knows that they might end up clashing heads if and when Jackson's old personality started to come through again but that was just a risk they had to be willing to take. They didn't have to rush anything, they didn't have to label themselves anything right now - not until they were sure they were ready to take the next step.

If Jackson wasn't ready to take that step, then they could keep it light and easy for the time being - just until they were absolutely certain. 

Jackson smiled and nodded, agreeing with that sentiment. It made more sense when Scott put it like that. To see if they were compatible, to see if they were a good match. 

"Yeah, okay, that makes sense. So we can just... take it slow, then? See where it leads us." Because Jackson had a feeling that somewhere along the line, something was going to go wrong and it was going to mess them up and he wanted to make sure that they weren't too serious when the time came. Because he wasn't sure if he could handle having his heart broken again. 

"Take it as slow as you want." Scott reassured him with a smile. "We can just see how it goes, day by day. We don't need to rush." 

Of course Scott was going to be like that. Soft, gentle, reassuring, letting Jackson know that everything was going to be just fine. Jackson just hoped that he was. He didn't want anything to jeopardise his relationship with the new pack, with the new pack leader. 

"Okay, as slow as I want." Jackson repeated, nodding.

Hopefully, things would progress into something a little more than just dating. Than just going on dates. But he'd have to see how the weeks progressed, he wouldn't push and he wouldn't nag. 

As it turns out, Scott really did change Jackson's life for the better.

Jackson would be grateful for the second chance he was given by Scott for the rest of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading this fic!  
> i know the ending might have seemed a little rushed but that was just how i saw it happening in my head, so!   
> if you'd like to see me write more surrounding these two, whether it be AU or as part of this fic - please let me know because i'd be happy to!!   
> i hope everyone enjoyed this story because i definitely enjoyed writing it!


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